“Information is power. Until recently, information about the condition of the earth’s environment has been accessible only to a limited number of people — climate scientists, researchers, and government officials among them. On December 11 — the two-year anniversary of the Paris climate accords — Brad Smith, president and chief legal officer of Microsoft, announced his company will invest $50 million over the next 5 years to democratize access to the data available about the environment available from the thousands of land, sea, and atmospheric sensors in place around the world using AI or artificial intelligence.

The plan is to make it possible for individuals and business owners to access the data available so they can analyze it themselves and decide how to best take strategic actions that will benefit them personally and support the quest for climate change strategies that promote the goals of the Paris climate accords. For instance, Microsoft envisions AI tools that will allow people to conserve energy and reduce water usage in agriculture.”

I want to publicize our new publicly available copy of the climate data… thanks to Dylan Houlihan, as well as the rest of our team!

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By: hypergeometric https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2017/02/23/saving-climate-data-part-6/#comment-102986
Tue, 30 Jan 2018 14:38:47 +0000http://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/?p=23346#comment-102986More news: Pruitt oversaw EPA deletion personally …https://thinkprogress.org/scott-pruitt-epa-webiste-0b4f50ef76c4/
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By: SEO Site Audit Expert https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2017/02/23/saving-climate-data-part-6/#comment-102805
Tue, 23 Jan 2018 04:05:04 +0000http://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/?p=23346#comment-102805Thank you for doing this. I noticed a number of missing pages from links that I had shared with my blog readers for a anti pesticide network. Hundreds of them are now gone. No way to “back up” proof of the research I shared with my followers.
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By: Stefan https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2017/02/23/saving-climate-data-part-6/#comment-89298
Wed, 29 Mar 2017 00:19:00 +0000http://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/?p=23346#comment-89298I agree that we have to fight. I just saw this via the March for Science facebook group: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/climate-change-skeptic-group-seeks-to-influence-200000-teachers/

Since the data saving operation is well-funded I wonder if there is another science based source of teaching material that I can donate to. This one looks pretty good–https://www.nrdc.org/about

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By: John Baez https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2017/02/23/saving-climate-data-part-6/#comment-89296
Tue, 28 Mar 2017 19:28:26 +0000http://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/?p=23346#comment-89296I’m not sure what you mean by “the damage done already”. The damage done to our biosphere by emitting 609 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide since the industrial revolution is certainly greater than the damage that will be done in the next 4 years. However, if Trump succeeds in derailing climate progress not just in the US but elsewhere (by breaking up the Paris Agreement), that could be disastrous. So, we just have to fight back in every reasonable way.

ROTT: There have been reports that Trump’s executive order will also try to do other things too, that he’ll slash a whole slew of Obama-era regulations tied to climate change. There’s a federal moratorium on coal leasing on public lands which could be addressed, a policy that requires agencies to consider climate change when making new regulations. He may even adjust something called the social cost of carbon, which puts a dollar figure on pollution, and maybe even more.

GREENE: Well, Nate, that is a long list. And of course we’ve had these battles over what exactly presidents can do with executive power. Can Donald Trump actually accomplish all of that if that’s what he’s writing into this order?

ROTT: Some of it he can. He’s going to need help with some of the other stuff. The smaller policies, like the moratorium on coal leasing and the instructing agencies not to consider climate change when they’re doing their cost-benefit analysis, he can do that with the stroke of a pen. Undoing the Clean Power Plan, that’s going to be a really tough thing to do.

We don’t know exactly how he plans to do it until we see the actual language of the executive order. But no matter how he approaches it, there’s going to be challenges. I spoke to a much smarter Nathan, Nathan Richardson, a law professor at the University of South Carolina. And he said that Trump absolutely can undo the Clean Power Plan. But…

NATHAN RICHARDSON: That’s like saying it’s possible for a battleship to turn around. It’s not something – yeah, it’s totally possible. It’s not something that can happen right away. Once you have something like the Clean Power Plan, a final rulemaking, then that can’t be withdrawn using any other process than actually the same one that was used to create it.

ROTT: And that’s no small process. We’re talking notices and proposals and public comments. There’s sure to be lawsuits from environmental groups and maybe even some states. You put all that together, and this could very well be a years’ long process.

GREENE: And one with global implications, right? I mean, isn’t this power plan we’re talking about basically – that was the Obama administration’s commitment to the Paris climate agreement.

ROTT: Absolutely, it is. We should note, though, that the Clean Power Plan currently is being challenged in court by 28 states. So it’s not actually being enforced. It’s also – we’re saying, though, in terms of the Clean Power Plan, that there is a chance that even if they completely dismantled this rule, the U.S. could still meet its commitment to the world under the Paris climate agreement. If you look at renewable energy, it’s surging in the U.S. Natural gas is cheaper than coal, has fewer emissions.

I’ve talked to a lot of experts about this, and all of them agree that killing the Clean Power Plan is not going to bring back the coal industry, which is one of Trump’s central campaign promises. If anything, it may keep some existing coal-fired power plants a lot longer. But don’t look for utilities to build any new ones. As for the Paris climate agreement, we don’t know if Trump is going to explicitly say that he wants to withdraw from it. But this executive order will undoubtedly send a message the U.S. is not going to take action on climate change any time in the foreseeable future.

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By: Stefan https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2017/02/23/saving-climate-data-part-6/#comment-89294
Tue, 28 Mar 2017 18:59:37 +0000http://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/?p=23346#comment-89294Now we are seeing the extent of the damage. From CNN:

“Tuesday’s order will initiate a review of the Clean Power Plan initiative, rescind the moratorium on coal mining on US federal lands and urge federal agencies to ‘identify all regulations, all rules, all policies … that serve as obstacles and impediments to American energy independence,’ the official said. Specifically, the order will rescind at least six Obama-era executive orders aimed at curbing climate change and regulating carbon emissions, including Obama’s November 2013 executive order instructing the federal government to prepare for the impact of climate change and the September 2016 presidential memorandum that outlined the ‘growing threat to national security’ that climate change poses.”

Thanks for leading the way to save data for the work of restoration. The question becomes: how long do you think it will take to overcome the effects of this administration–or do you think that the damage done already outweighs any effect of the coming 4 years of policy?

Pruitt at the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ winter leadership meeting March 2 asked the nation’s mayors to provide him with “success stories” that would help bolster his efforts to protect his priorities — including water infrastructure funds, Superfund cleanups, brownfields redevelopment and attainment of national ambient air quality standards — from White House plans to slash the agency’s budget in FY18.

Kaplan in his message to employees said, “I have been assured that Administrator Pruitt will work hard on our behalf to effectively represent EPA in the budget deliberations.”

He said that Region 5, which represents Illinois and five other Midwest states, along with the other regions and EPA headquarters “components are providing important information to support his ability to do so. I know that this information will be useful as EPA and OMB engage in continuing discussions.”

Similarly, Vizian in her message said, “I have been assured that Administrator Pruitt will be working hard on our behalf to effectively represent us in the budget deliberations. That does not mean that changes will not happen, but it does mean that he wants to take a pragmatic approach to our appropriation.”

But such assurances are doing little to address EPA staff concerns and sagging morale across the agency. One EPA staffer said recently that “it’s as bad as you are hearing: The entire agency is under lockdown, the website . . . can’t be updated. All reports, findings, permits and studies are frozen and not to be released. No presentations or meetings with outside groups are to be scheduled.”

“We are still doing our work, writing reports, doing cancer modeling for pesticides, hoping that this is temporary and we will be able to serve the public soon. But many of us are worried about an ideologically-fueled purging,” the source said.